Last year at TedxDumbo in October, I spoke about Africa as the next Fashion Capital. I believe this notion fully and it has some roots in the timing of what is going on the continent. This decade, most African countries will hit 50 years of independence. This is...

Last October, after I finished speaking at TedxDumbo on Africa as the next fashion capital, I took a hiatus from writing here and spent time refocusing on my business, Calabar Imports in Brooklyn. It had been a year since we had a fire at our original...

Identity would seem to be the garment with which one covers the nakedness of the self, in which case, it is best that the garment be loose, a little like the robes of the desert, through which one's nakedness can always be felt, and, sometimes, discerned. This trust in one's...

Some days, I find it unbelievable how little has changed in Africa. We seem to evolve slowly and quite frankly, there is no reason for this pace. Yes, I do understand that we are people of tradition and our culture and beliefs hold us almost stationary, but our evolution in...

I began this blog post almost a year ago, and even today, I still have mixed feelings about the role of China in Africa. Africa needs help, I really believe Africans can do it themselves but after years of colonialism and independence, we are still in our infancy as Modern...

About two years ago, on May 6, Nigeria lost its sitting president, Umaru Yar'Adua. I recalled it because I had just returned from a trip there and was in the midst of re-thinking my business. I was a bit worried yet surprised at the calmness after his death....

This is the seventh blog in my series, The Pulse of Africa talking with Global Africans working in Africa and across the Diaspora. It takes an inside view on Africa's progress, issues on arts and culture, technology and opportunities in this decade. See the series here.

I began...

This is the seventh blog in my series, The Pulse of Africa talking with Global Africans working in Africa and across the Diaspora. It takes an inside view on Africa's progress, issues on arts and culture, technology and opportunities in this decade. See the series here.

I began...

This is the seventh blog in my series, The Pulse of Africa talking with Global Africans working in Africa and across the Diaspora. It takes an inside view on Africa's progress, issues on arts and culture, technology and opportunities in this decade. See the series here.

I began...

Summer Garden parties are always exciting. The friends you spend the days talking with, the food and the cool ice drinks. And then, there is the music and entertainment. For me, a biased Brooklynite, Brooklyn is the best place to be for a hip summer party and the Weeksville Heritage...

I was born in Nigeria in 1969 and lived through Fela's revolutionary years. I remember 1977 like it was yesterday. There were 3 major events that year in my life: the raid on Fela's compound, FESTAC 77 and my father's untimely death. Each changed the way I see the world...

This is the sixth blog in my series, The Pulse of Africa talking with Global Africans working in Africa and across the Diaspora. It takes an inside view on Africa's progress, issues on arts and culture, technology and opportunities in this decade. See the series here.

I first...

This is the fifth blog in my series, The Pulse of Africa talking with Global Africans working in Africa and across the Diaspora. It takes an inside view on Africa's progress, issues on arts and culture, technology and opportunities in this decade. See the series here. Follow me...

This is the fourth blog in my series, The Pulse of Africa talking with Global Africans working in Africa and across the Diaspora. It takes an inside view on Africa's progress, issues on arts and culture, technology and opportunities in this decade. See the series here.

Spring brings...

This is the third blog in my series, The Pulse of Africa talking with Global Africans working in Africa and across the Diaspora. It takes an inside view on Africa's progress, issues on arts and culture, technology and opportunities in this decade. See the series here.

Let's face...

This is the second blog in my series, The Pulse of Africa talking with Global Africans working in Africa and across the Diaspora. It takes an inside view on Africa's progress, issues on arts and culture, technology and opportunities in this decade. See the first here.

In 2000,...

This is the first blog in my series, The Pulse of Africa talking with Global Africans working in Africa and across the Diaspora. It takes an inside view on Africa's progress, issues on arts and culture, technology and opportunities in this decade.

Early this month, artist Brett Cook sent me...

Fashion is a tough profession for anyone. Most observers see it as fun and glamorous but those who participate in it know that it is a serious business. It takes guts and determination. And as Fashion week begins in New York, I have been contemplating on how independent fashion designers...

I was born in the Niger Delta, and lived in the Niger Delta in Nigeria until I came to the U.S. In some ways, I can be considered a child of big oil -- Mobil Oil -- to be specific. But I own no oil fields and none of my...

I start 2012 contemplating how things in Africa have been and wonder why people keep stating that Africa should be learning from the West. I often wonder about this conflicting statement: Africa must learn from the West. It is usually coming from people who talk to me about independence from...